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Apple’s new iOS 7 and the revamped Siri voice assistant announced Monday are poised to make big inroads into car dashboards. Your iPhone could be the navigation system for a low-cost car and bypass the pricey in-car navigation and infotainment systems of costlier vehicles. A dozen automakers say they plan to support the new features of iOS 7, particularly Siri Eyes Free. You use the press-to-talk button on the steering wheel and integrated microphone to communicate with your iPhone. Your iPhone screen is blanked and a replica is displayed on the car’s center stack LCD display. More automakers are building in LCD displays even when the cars don’t come with on-board navigation.

Maps and navigation would be the first apps to be ported to the car. For the best user experience, the in-car display might be slightly different than just an iPhone display rendered larger. Other apps might include texts and emails that could be be read aloud or shown on-screen. But if they’re displayed on-screen, then Apple and phone makers get caught up in the question of what should be on the center stack LCD and what’s too distracting. As if Apple hasn’t had enough run-ins with federal regulators already.

For car buyers, it’s a mostly-win situation… near-term. For automakers, they’ll need to install LCD displays (at a manufacturing cost of about $100), but many do already. High-end cars may still have integrated navigation and infotainment, but on lower-end cars control may be ceded to Apple and other smartphone-makers. It’s unlikely automakers would sign exclusionary deals that would, say, include Apple and cut out Android. The iPhone is the single best-selling phone, but Android phones as a group outsell Apple and in some ways lead Apple in in-car functionality.

Car owners would get more up-to-date applications and phone-based navigation wouldn’t be so expensive. You might pay $10 a year for navigation; if you buy an update disc or SD card for your in-car system, that could be $200. Today, what’s installed in your car at the factory is pretty much what you have to live with for the life of the car. The updates are just that: map updates and software enhancements, not completely new versions of the navigation system. With the life of the average car now at a dozen years, you could be staring at the same clunky built-in nav system in 2025, or you could be running iOS 17.

The automakers on-board with iOS 7

Many automakers have signed on but not all. Several revealed themselves Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The most significant non-signers include Ford/Lincoln, whose Sync system ironically was the first to make heavy use of connected smartphones, Toyota/Lexus, and Chrysler. Those pledged to Siri Eyes Free are:

Acura

BMW

Chevrolet

Ferrari

Honda

Hyundai

Infiniti

Jaguar

Kia

Opel (Europe)

Mercedes-Benz

Nissan

Volvo

Each automaker has to work out how one press-to-talk button on the steering wheel can be used by both the car’s voice recognition system and Siri. Most commonly, a short press sends the voice command to the car, a long press sends the command to Siri and Eyes Free.

What Apple doesn’t display on the center stack could be off-limits

No good deed goes unpunished, right? If you drink the Eyes Free Kool-Aid, know this: As Eyes Free works currently, some of your apps are shown on-screen, not all. But if the phone app is not Eyes Free approved, it’s also Hands Off. The controls and display on the iPhone are disabled so you can’t muck around with other apps. You shouldn’t be running a video on the center stack display, obviously. But say you wanted to check weather at your destination or the departure gate for your flight, and it’s not an app that works through Eyes Free. Then you’re out of luck, unless you disconnect Eyes Free and your connected smartphone is just a smartphone sitting on the center console. The biggest issue will be whether texts and the first lines of e-mails can be displayed.

Another issue for users is to see how Apple treats apps in a category. Right now, if you want to run an iPhone navigation app, it’s easier to access and issue commands to Apple Maps than to Google Maps, MotionX, Telenav, or AT&T/Verizon Navigator.

Have automakers run up the white flag?

Longer term, iOS 7 and a reinvigorated Siri could be a bad sign for automakers. It could mean the automakers are admitting they just can’t keep up with mobile infotainment technology and they’ll return to the nuts and bolts of car-building: safety, efficiency, comfort.

There still is good reason for automakers to stay involved: When an automaker builds in a data cellphone for telematics and automated crash notification, it uses an antenna that works farther in the boondocks that the best smartphone. When a high-end car incorporates a $2,000 navigation system, there’s incentive to make the center stack display 10 inches diagonal, not just 6 or 7 inches. Audi with its photorealistic maps shows what’s possible when spending extra money for good navigation on a good car.

Chevrolet BringGo: glimpse of the future

General Motors’ Chevrolet division already does some of what Apple announced this week. Using the Chevrolet MyLink infotainment interface, you can use an iPhone and BringGo software (formerly GoGo Link) from Engis Technologies ($50) to run navigation on the car phone, display the moving map on the car display, and issue commands through the touchscreen and center stack buttons. It’s on the Chevrolet Spark subcompact and Chevrolet Sonic compact cars. It’s a great idea that shows signs of incomplete execution: While BringGo gets you where you’re going, the software is not leading-edge, the displayed maps are sometimes hard to read, and one of the initial platform cars, the Spark, is underwhelming.

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Where’s Ford on the list???…Oh…they’re busy doing commercials for American Idol and NFL Games……

http://www.jeffkibuule.com Jeff Kibuule

Because they have their own platform in Ford Sync?

Yakov G

Ford Sync is the biggest turd there is. It’s powered by Microsoft — it’s absolute trash. Just search around for bugs, crashes (pun intended) I got suckered, will be trading it in for something usable soon.

Bill Howard

Ford’s challenges come from being the leader, from too-small fonts, too much clutter, and (to a lesser extent than Cadillac) relying on capacitive touch. Speed and stability are getting better with newer revs. It would be easier if Ford like Mercedes-Benz used over the air updates. Give Ford credit for having a decent solution in 2008 when most automakers considered iPod connectivity to be the Aux In jack.

Yakov G

No, the new rev of sync is atrocious, it was unusable when it was release in 2011 and supposedly after being rewritten from the ground up is still trash. How about getting the essentials working before promising the moon. They rushed to the market with a buggy terrible “upgrade” and its an absolute failure.

Bill Howard

Okay. In Comments, you deserve the last word.

Jerick

My android phones have been doing this with my Sony car stereo for at least 2 years.

Mark C

“the the revamped Siri voice assistant”
“the new features of of iOS 7″
“You you use the press-to-talk button”

Sorry sorry about about your your stuttering problem problem.

Fortune IT guy

let’s not forget that ‘Macintosh’ had a head unit in a Mid 80’s Corvette.

FactsAreFun

iPass.

:-)

Pe4ceM4ker

Sounds Great, I cant remember the last time i used my Navigation systems, Because my iPhone does everything it can do even better, plus it is hands free. ALREADY. None the less saving 2+ Grand on the Nav System to be able to FULLY integrate my iPhone would be AWESOME!!!

brenro

Time to buy Garmin stock.

Roman

Holy crap, this could be great for Apple. I could see them putting a camera inside the car, and record street view similar to Google, then using the navigation software to improve their maps and locations. They can prolly have a much better streetview in one year, than Google did in 10 years.

Gary

I don’t want my car to become a Google car or Apple iCar. Too invasive. Some apps, OK! But not the whole car. Its my car darn it!

Bill Howard

Now it’s *your* car even more. You decide which navi app you want. Right now your choice with in-dash is binary. Their app or no app.

Gary

Hi Bill, looking forward, dosen’t it seem that the only recourse is for each automaker to have thier own apps stores so that only thier approved apps will work on thier onboard systems? As long as phones are connected to onboard systems all other public apps have to be blocked out and for good reason. This will also allow automakers to control Apple and Google influence.

Bill Howard

The most nervous (weakest) (most fearful of lawsuits) link in the automaker-phone vendor chain will force certain apps that I say improve safety and automakers fear hurts safety. Example: texts. Which is safer, picking up your heldheld and reading texts there, or seeing it on the 8″ display? Sure, never reading a text while in the car is safest, but that ain’t gonna happen.

Gary

Hello Bill, Great points! This is all the more reason that only pre-approved apps come only from the automaker’ app stores. If there is some conflict or DOT concern, those apps can easily be controlled. This is why public domain apps can’t be allowed into the on-board system. I already heard something about using speed to determine when text messages switch to voice only. Once disconnected anyone can use any app they want. Hang on to your hat while the industry changes significantly in the next few years… enjoy the ride!

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